Unanticipated costs and delays might doom Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s controversial plan for a temporary transition center for up to 115 homeless people at Sand Island.

The administration announced in August it was setting aside $1 million to convert a state-owned, 5-acre vacant lot into a one-stop campsite operated for those who agree to enter the city’s long-term Housing First initiative. Housing First is aimed at providing them with permanent units in the larger community.

But Managing Director Ember Shinn told reporters at a press conference Friday that it’s possible the city could opt to spend the money to help the homeless in other ways.

"I can’t say that isn’t a consideration," Shinn said when asked whether the Sand Island plan could be scrapped. "The price tag is almost a million dollars now, and I think we can do a lot more with $1 million."

The deciding factor might be the cost of any possible remediation of the site, which is part of a larger parcel that an earlier state Department of Health study suggested could contain contaminants because it was once a dump.

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources, before agreeing to grant the city a free three-year lease for the site, insisted that a soil study be conducted first to ensure the ground is safe for people to camp there.

The city then had to wait for a procedural challenge by the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, a nonprofit organization that first raised the soil concerns publicly, to be rejected before it could approach the Health Department about gaining right of entry to the site to conduct the initial soil study, Shinn said.

Additionally, the city had originally planned to cover the ground with recycled asphalt, but is now being asked by state officials to consider using crushed coral instead, she said.

"And of course, no one can sleep on crushed coral, so we would have to then put some kind of pallet or some type of other surface over that to make it more comfortable. So we’re struggling with those issues right now," Shinn said.

The city had initially hoped to put up $100,000 to prepare the site and have it ready for occupancy in two months, Shinn said.

But now, two months later, the city must still spend an additional $20,000 to $25,000 for soil remediation and an estimated $40,000 to used crushed coral instead of recycled asphalt.

"So that almost doubles our initial (site preparation) estimates," Shinn said. "Let’s just say it this way: We’re looking at different ways we can spend $1 million."

Money for the Sand Island proposal is coming from $3 million in operating funds the city set aside for Housing First expenses. The City Council also set aside $45 million in capital improvements money to be used for Housing First and other homeless and affordable-housing purposes.

City officials said the initial plan for Sand Island was to create camping sites, and not necessarily tents or other shelter, for the homeless, along with amenities and on-site service providers.

The Sand Island plan was panned by homeless advocates from the outset. Besides the soil remediation issues, the critics said the site is too dry and remote, that it is not safe from criminal elements and that it did not have buy-in from the homeless community.